Boughton Drops Out Of Governor's Race

HARTFORD — Hobbled by a lack of money, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton suspended his campaign for governor on Wednesday and is calling on Republicans to coalesce behind Tom Foley.

"It's been my honor to seek Connecticut's highest statewide office," Boughton said in an email to supporters. "However, I now believe it is time to suspend my candidacy and call for party unity behind the endorsed Republican candidate, Tom Foley."

Boughton said that he will close out his campaign committee in the coming weeks and release the committee's staff to work on other campaigns.

"Obviously, when something doesn't work out the way you wanted it to, you feel disappointed," Boughton said in an interview shortly after his announcement. "You can't look at what was, you can only look at what the future will bring."

Boughton's departure from the race leaves the Republican primary field with two candidates: Foley and Sen. John McKinney. The primary will be Aug. 12.

McKinney said that he was surprised by Boughton's decision but that it won't affect the way he runs his campaign. "I was prepared to run a six-person race, then a three-person race, so my message hasn't changed,'' he said. "It might be easeir to get that message out with only two people, but it is the same message.''

Foley praised Boughton and said he appreciated the mayor's endorsement. "I thank Mayor Boughton for running a strong, issues-based campaign and for bringing his skills and experience as mayor of Danbury and a former legislator to the debate about solving Connecticut's problems,'' Foley said in a statement.

Connecticut Republicans have had several divisive and nasty primaries in recent years, including the 2010 gubernatorial primary between Foley and then-Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele.

On Wednesday, Connecticut Republican Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. said that the party has "an excellent opportunty" to defeat Democratic incumbent Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this year, and that Boughton's withdrawal brings the party "one step closer to party unity in the race for governor."

Boughton, a 50-year-old former teacher, cast himself as a plain-spoken, can-do mayor, a blue-collar Republican who identifies himself as "pro-life" and is known for his hard-line stance on undocumented immigrants.

Personable and popular, he was also known for his nimble use of social media, including a folksy Twitter feed that riffed on everything from policy issues to rap songs to succinct recaps of "The Walking Dead."

But Boughton experienced a series of stumbles and setbacks in the early months of the 2014 campaign cycle. He languished in second place in several public opinion polls; a May 9 Quinnipiac University poll put him at 9 percent to Foley's 39 percent.

Boughton also drew criticism from gun rights groups for his support of tougher restrictions on guns. But earlier this year, he publicly severed his ties with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns, angering gun control activists, including family members of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Ultimately, though, lackluster fundraising hurt his chances the most. Boughton, who does not enjoy Foley's personal wealth, said Wednesday that he had raised about $175,000, a sum that falls short of the $250,000 he would have needed to qualify for the state's public campaign financing program.

To bridge the fundraising gap, Boughton forged an alliance with former Groton Mayor Heather Bond Somers. Under a state Supreme Court ruling in 2010, running mates may combine their money to reach the threshold for public financing, and Boughton hoped that she would bring geographic balance and gender diversity, in addition to campaign cash.

Shortly after the Republican convention, Somers ditched Boughton and announced that she was striking out on her own, a move that blindsided the Danbury mayor.

Boughton's next move was to team up with Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti in a push to reach that all-important $250,000 threshold. But Lauretti had not yet collected all the signatures he needed to secure a place on the Republican primary ballot. Boughton said he believes that the petition drive will ultimately wind up 500 to 1,000 signatures short of the 8,190 needed to qualify.

"It's a little disappointing, obviously," Lauretti said. "I don't figure it was humanly possible to do more than we did.''

Although Boughton is suspending his campaign, he left the door ever so slightly ajar should the signature effort prove successful.

"If a miracle happens and we get the signatures," Boughton said, "I'll turn the lights back on."